Many city council races contested

Election deadline reached as candidates file their paperwork with board of elections

May 10, 2013

Written by

Staff writer

FREMONT — All but one of November’s Fremont City Council races will be contested, as a number of new candidates and one former council member filed paperwork with the Sandusky County Board of Elections to run in the general election contests.

The filing deadline for the Nov. 5 general election was Tuesday afternoon.

Incumbent Angie Ruiz is running unopposed for her Third Ward council seat, but the other three council races on November’s ballot will be contested.

Among candidates that will be running are Democratic incumbent Don Nalley and independent challenger Mike Koebel, a former at-large council member from 2007-11. Nalley will face Koebel in the race for the city’s First Ward council seat.

Nalley has served as a Fremont councilman since 2002 and is the longest serving member of the council. He currently chairs the council’s finance and labor committee.

The city’s future finances will be one of the major issues for the council as it moves forward, Nalley said. He said his work with finance and economic development issues, plus his experience on council and willingness to ask questions, made him consider another term.

“I guess I see myself as a strong voice for Fremont. I understand the issues, I understand the problems and I’ve worked hard to address those problems,” Nalley said.

Nalley said he understood that there were mistakes made in completing the city’s reservoir project. He said he knew people were concerned about the possibility of higher water and sewer rates and Nalley stressed that the city was trying to minimize the impact of any rate increases on the general public.

Koebel narrowly lost his at-large seat in November 2011 by a 54-vote margin. He had been outspoken with his concerns about the city’s reservoir project prior to his defeat.

Thursday, Koebel said he had been asked by some people to make another run for council.

He said he was concerned about some of the issues currently facing the city, such as the cost of producing water, what he sees as a wide disparity between what American Municipal Power pays for water and the cost to average city residents, and the issue of three wiped hard drives, including one belonging to former Terry Overmyer, that is still under investigation.

“There’s just things that don’t make sense to me,” Koebel said.

Koebel said he wanted to, if elected, set up a citizens’ review committee to look at the city’s reservoir project.

The city’s Second Ward race will be between Democrat David Guardiola and Republican Kathy Stout. Bob Marker currently holds that seat, but decided not to run for another term.

Indpendent candidates Joe Michles and Anthony Taylor will challenge recently appointed Republican Robert Gross for the Fourth Ward council seat.

The ward’s Republican Central Committee appointed Gross in April to replace Richard Root, who resigned from the council seat at a March 21 meeting.

Michles, an outspoken opponent of the city’s reservoir and the proposed removal of the Ballville Dam, said he wanted to be on council after spending the last two-and-a-half years asking tough questions about those projects.

He said he sees the economic survivability of Fremont in peril and wanted to work to develop a stronger tax base, encourage more long term financial planning and attract companies that offer good-paying jobs to the city.

“I think Fremont can be pulled out of this,” Michles said.

In other city races, incumbent treasurer Holly Elder, a Democrat, will face Republican challenger Richard Holland.

City auditor Paul Grahl will run unopposed in the election to complete former auditor John Lauer’s unexpired term, which runs through December 2015.

Grahl was appointed auditor to replace Lauer, who retired from the position.